Vada Chennai is an unrefined raw product of Vetrimaaran's vision! It's savage and brainy with heart at its core.
There seems to be an undefined, articulated force of peer pressure that surrounds this film. Vada Chennai has all the elements of being good and even has the potential of becoming the first notable trilogy in Kollywood. But, there are no reviews that talk about what the film slips to do.
Let's consider the introduction sequence of the film. It opens with an immediate aftermath of a brutal murder of a person whose identity is not revealed. It’s told that it’s the murder of a big shot. Okay, let's add little spice over this setup. What if Senthil played by Kishore or Guna played by Samuthirakani orders one of the other three to switch the lights off and clear the body? So that no one actually knows who’s killed and who’re actually the murderers? And, when the lights are off, the title appears. This would have added more suspense to the already existing mystery as the scene anyway plays again later in the second half. But, it's shown that the four, Guna, Senthil, Velu played by Pawan and Mani are the slaughterers. So, the best possible case that it's to be the death of Rajan, played by Ameer or in the worst, Thambi's, brother of Rajan, played by Daniel Balaji. Or maybe, Muthu played by Radha Ravi? As the screenplay toggles between timelines and perspectives, we immediately get to see that Thambi and Muthu are still alive in his old age. So, it's pretty evident that it's to be Rajan. If you try to connect the dots left out like this in each part, you can pretty much draw the whole picture yourself. For the least, the next fifteen minutes of the run-time other than the two major twists.
Anbu's character is richly written and fleshed out than any other character in the film. He's like 'The man with no name' from A fistful of dollars or 'The boy who lived’ from Harry Potter or 'The bastard son' from Game of Thrones. Being said that, it doesn't mean that other characters are bad. Maybe, most others are common denominators; basically baddies who’re hunger of power. There's also another character that's traits of 'The bride' from Kill Bill and the film also employs the similar trick that Kill Bill used. Time skip happens as the narrator narrates each incident; while the superscript surfaces over a blank screen denoting the main characters of the particular sequence.
There are also scenes in the second half that will remind us of the scenes in the first. Whereas here, it acts as polar opposites here which is a big plus. Like how Rajan was murdered by the four and how Anbu was setup in his first trial; how Anbu was relieved from the murder he did not do and how Anbu entered jail for some crime he'd not committed.
What made this film more realistic, grounded and authentic are the slum mannerisms and the fact of facing the reality with zero tolerance to cinematic liberty. Heroine calling the hero 'Makku koodhi' and this also has to be the very first time people loving something like it in theater. Or you can even consider the heroic shots. After beating up a bad guy, anyone would expect to have the entrance the hero deserves. Like hero’s hair waving due to all the sudden motion of the wind from nowhere. But, here, Dhanush's hair does not wave but, he just walks in slow motion accompanied by a strong background score (king of the sea) from SaNa that pulsates the whole scene like a real wildfire. Simply put, simple things like this adds beauty and life to Vada Chennai.
Also, no one seems to bat on eye on the cinematography or blame it. There are shots that go out of focus and then, resumes in. It restrains the experience in a way and does hurt our eyes even without knowingly. If they’re intentional, people like me would love to ear the reason.
Maybe, a second visit to the film may help in receiving much more details. But, sadly, there would be a question within your infinitely scattered thoughts like "Is it really worth watching the second time?"
After all, Vada Chennai is unlikely a testament of how one should make a local gangster film and would be credited as one of the bests for ages to come.